Update: Duluth Tourism Marketing Finalist Chosen; Name Announced Dec. 5

DULUTH, Minn. (Nov. 21) — The city of Duluth announced Thursday that a special selection committee has determined its finalist for Duluth’s next two-year tourism marketing contract.

The top-scoring finalist will be announced at a committee of the whole meeting on Dec. 5 before the council makes a vote to deny or approve during the council meeting Dec. 9.

The six-person selection committee was chosen by Chief Administrative Officer David Montgomery and is chaired by Duluth Airport Authority Tom Werner.  The committee used a blind scoring process to get to their No. 1 pick.

The request for proposal process and scoring criteria can be found at: https://duluthmn.gov/media/yvzny02h/24-aa07-rfp-for-tourism-marketing-services-rebid.pdf.

Committee members:

Tom Werner, Executive Director, Duluth Airport Authority

Elena Foshay, Director of Workforce Development, City of Duluth

Dan Hartman, Executive Director, DECC

Andrew Field, Financial Analyst, City of Duluth

Briana Johnson, Development Director, American Heart Association

Haley Hedstrom, Executive Director, Lake Superior Zoological Society.

DULUTH, Minn. – The city of Duluth is one step closer to announcing which company will land the city’s new multimillion-dollar tourism marketing contract.

In all, 26 businesses applied for the job during the Request For Proposals process.  Of that number, a selection committee has chosen their top five.

The committee was formed by Chief Administrative Officer David Montgomery.

As of Wednesday, the people on that committee were not made public, nor were then names of the candidates in the top five spots and whether they were all local or involved firms outside the market.

But FOX 21 confirmed Bellmont Partners out of the Twin Cities, which holds Duluth’s current marketing contract, did not apply to possibly continue into a new contract.

The decision to go with Bellmont was a controversial one when, for the first time in 85 years,
then-mayor Emily Larson bypassed longstanding Visit Duluth as the sole marketing agency of the city after a first-ever RFP process.

Current Mayor Roger Reinert said in March, “I fundamentally believe as a Duluthian that we have the creative talents in our community to tell our own story.”

The city council will vote whether to deny or approve whichever marketing firm the committee chooses.

That vote could happen as soon as the next council meeting Nov. 25.

Below is the 26 applicants for the marketing contract:

Agency
A List Profiles
AimClear
Bigtop Collective
Bluewater
BoatBurner
BPN
Broadhead
BVK : Birdsall, Voss & Associates, Inc
Duluth News Tribune
Foerstel Piper Martin
Framework
Good Giant
GS&F
Hailey Sault
Joy Riot
Lawrence & Schiller
Madden Media
Metre
Padillia
Sinclair
Swim Creative
The Cultural North
The Flint Group
The Zimmerman Agency
Whiskey Mike Kilo
Wilks Group